Why it's important to widen the pitching net
Are you guilty of pitching the same titles and journalists?
Since going freelance 15 years ago, I’m constantly learning to widen my pitching net. Though hands up: I haven’t tried hard enough.
When I first turned freelance after quitting fashion trade title Drapers, I freelanced for them and Retail Week (both then under publisher Emap), knocking out features as well as coming into the office for reporter and news editor shifts. I was also writing for New Media Age - another past employer -and other trade titles such as Marketing Week and Professional Beauty. I knew I wanted to crack the nationals and so after changing my focus (and taking a huge paycut), I switched my attention to the BBC and Guardian, which also led to shifts and filling in for editors. I ended up writing for regular sections at the Guardian and at the BBC. Things were good.
That was, until Covid hit. Both those sections were axed - both main staples for me. I looked elsewhere for freelance work and started writing for other titles such as the Metro, the i Paper, and Stylist. Covid also gave me the impetus to plunge more into my work as a media consultant (though I’d already worked as Guardian Masterclass PR tutor for several years), starting this newsletter (ah, has it been six years?!), and creating an online course, webinars and a content network with Power Hours. I spread my wings.
It’s cushy when you have great relationships with editors and it helps when they’re at two of the biggest national titles. But what naturally happens is you stop pitching features to other newspapers and magazines as you want your articles to land in those titles. But it also means that when their budgets get cut and sections fold, you’re suddenly scouring around to try and fill the gap.
It’s something I’m forever juggling. Now as I’m reporting from overseas more, I’m constantly scouting out new editors to pitch. It’s worked out with several in particular but establishing new relationships can take a while. Editors are busy. They’re more likely to respond to the journalists they know and have worked with before (especially with the rise of AI and fakes pitches). In the environmental and travel spheres - two super competitive sectors I’m increasingly working in - it feels even harder to find the right person and actually receive response (and then only after a follow-up). It’s time consuming but the more stories you've worked on together, the more the relationship grows. I’ve seen this with one particular editor who now asks me for pitches and has asked if I can visit certain places for stories.
Recently I’ve broken into new (to me) titles and am now forming relationships with the editors there. After many emails over images, on Thursday I secured a dream commission for well-established title on a heartwarming subject. I’d never even thought to pitch them till I was researching related subjects, and they came up. And then yesterday, I secured my ultimate UK dream travel commission. I won't divulge what either of these are in case I jinx 'em.
I think we’re all guilty of sticking to the same journalists and titles and forget that things can shift - our contacts might leave, that section might be axed, the title might go under. It’s worth all of us, journalists and PRs alike, to branch out more and discover new titles and pitch beyond our usual spots (and internationally too). We can also learn to aim higher – to have more confidence and give a shot pitching (a well-researched and targeted story, of course) to a title you thought was out of your reach.